Valérie Bah wins Amazon Canada First Novel Award for ‘Subterrane'
TORONTO – Valérie Bah's speculative comedy 'Subterrane' has won the $60,000 Amazon Canada First Novel Award.
The Quebec author and filmmaker accepted the prize at a ceremony in Toronto on Thursday night.
The novel follows a filmmaker documenting the lives of queer and Black characters who are pushed underground by urban prosperity in the fictional city of New Stockholm.
The documentarian focuses on the death of an activist protesting a construction project.
In addition to writing and filmmaking, Bah is a massage therapist.
Other finalists include Benjamin Hertwig for 'Juiceboxers,' about four young soldiers serving in Afghanistan, and Vancouver-based Myriam Lacroix for the genre-bending 'How It Works Out,' in which a lesbian couple's relationship is reimagined through multiple scenarios.
Also in the running were Andrew Boden of Burnaby, B.C., for 'When We Were Ashes,' about disabled children in Nazi Germany; Halifax writer David Huebert for 'Oil People,' about two families locked in a bitter rivalry that lasts generations; and Calgary's Natalie Sue for the tender comedy 'I Hope This Finds You Well,' about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens.
Each shortlisted novelist receives $6,000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
‘We can't live in fear': Vancouver prepares for large-scale weekend events after Cirque du Soleil crash
Several large events and festivals are taking place this weekend and police are ramping up security as fears remain high. Police are gearing up for a weekend filled with large-scale festivals in Vancouver, just six weeks after the Lapu-Lapu Day attack. The festivities also come in the wake of a frightening incident at Pacific Coliseum, during which a driver apparently in the midst of mental health crisis crashed into the entrance during a Thursday performance of Cirque du Soleil: Crystal. The Vancouver Police Department said more than 300 additional officers will be deployed across the city from Friday to Sunday, using the newly acquired median barriers expedited last month for the Vancouver Marathon. On Saturday, the B.C. Lions kick off their season with a performance by Snoop Dogg before the game. A festival is also scheduled for Terry Fox Square to welcome the more than 50,000 fans. The team's president, Duane Vienneau, said parts of Robson and Beatty streets will be closed to traffic and lined with archer barriers to help secure the area. 'We're safety first,' said Vienneau. Vienneau and others responsible for holding events across the city have been working to ensure that everyone attending is safe – and feels safe. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flood Commercial Drive on Sunday for Italian Day on the Drive, and similar to the B.C. Lions home opener, archer barriers will stretch across closed roads to prevent vehicles from getting near crowds. 'We can't live in fear,' said Melissa De Genova, vice-president of the Italian Day Festival Society board. 'We have the utmost confidence in the VPD and the city has been very diligent in the planning.' Other events taking place this weekend in the Lower Mainland include the West Vancouver Community Cultural Fest, Burnaby Heights Hats Off Day, Doors Open Richmond, and Car Free Day Newton in Surrey. The Surrey Police Service told CTV News it is prepared to welcome the expected crowd of 5,000 to the latter event.
CTV News
12 hours ago
- CTV News
New pack of five grey wolves unveiled at Assiniboine Park Zoo
Gigi is one of the new grey wolves at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Uploaded June 6, 2025. (Assiniboine Park & Zoo/Facebook) A new pack of grey wolves has arrived at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Gigi, Chinook, Comet, Stella and Virgo have been introduced as the new canines at the zoo. They arrived Thursday from the Greater Vancouver Zoo. 'We're really excited,' said Shane Pratt, the curator of animal care. 'Our team is just really excited to bring in a charismatic northern species.' Comet, Stella and Virgo are the offspring of Gigi and Chinook, Platt said. Comet the grey wolf Comet is one of the new grey wolves at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Uploaded June 6, 2025. (Assiniboine Park & Zoo/Facebook) He noted Gigi has shown a lot of confidence in the new enclosure already, and it's rubbing off on the rest of the pack. 'Until they come here and we get to know them, we don't really know what to expect. So we kind of assume they're going to be fairly nervous and we try to make sure everything's going to be very comfortable for them, but they've exceeded our expectations.' The zoo had been on the hunt for a new pack since the last grey wolf, Bear, died back in March at 15. Bear and the rest of his pack of five had been at the zoo since 2014. Pratt said they had contacted the Vancouver Zoo quite some time ago, as they had 13 wolves and were looking to move some out. Stella the grey wolf Stella is one of the new grey wolves at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. Uploaded June 6, 2025. (Assiniboine Park & Zoo/Facebook) Wolves are a big attraction at the zoo, Pratt said, adding visitors really connect with the animals. 'There's very few animals that inspire people about wildlife and wild places like wolves do.' When Gigi came out to explore her enclosure on Thursday, Pratt said people got very excited to see her and were in awe of her.
CTV News
13 hours ago
- CTV News
Bard on the Beach to present Much Ado About Nothing with small but mighty edit
People line up to enter Bard on the Beach in Vancouver. (The Canadian Press / Chuck Stoody) To the casual theatregoer, this year's Bard on the Beach production of Much Ado About Nothing will seem delightfully typical of the company's crowd-pleasing spectacles, but to the seasoned Shakespeare fan something might seem afoot. To modify or not to modify? That was the question posed before director Johnna Wright decided to update her version of the 16th century comedy with additional text by playwright Erin Shields. Shields had tweaked the text for Ontario's The Stratford Festival in 2023, including a prologue for one of the lead characters and a new scene for the production's fifth act. Wright assures all the major elements are the same: The production is set in the Italian city of Messina, and the storyline focuses on the two romances between Claudio and Hero and Benedick and Beatrice. The modification addresses a particular element of the storyline without changing the ending, she says. It is an addition to the script, not a rewrite, that Wright describes as 'giving voice' to a character that is silenced in the original play. 'I was very excited when I read Erin's script because it does such a beautiful job of being true to the play and to the characters that Shakespeare created, but also linking it to a modern audience and how we respond to the kind of things that are happening,' she says. Shakespeare's original grapples with the theme of gender as it reflects the expectations of women in Elizabethan-era England. It has elements that Wright says appear in many Shakespeare plays, elements that can be 'difficult to get to grips with' as a modern-day viewer. Often they made gender assumptions or acknowledged societal norms that might seem unacceptable now, she says, but were typical of the times then. 'When you do these plays, you're always thinking, 'How am I going to make that part work?' says Wright. 'Because this is a comedy, and it is supposed to be a happy ending, but there are some things that are kind of disturbing that an Elizabethan audience would have accepted as a happy ending, but we don't see it that way.' Wright expects the additional scene, which sees the young and naive Hero respond to the violence endured throughout the play, to surprise Shakespeare devotees but to ultimately incite a warm reception. 'I will be very interested to find out how people respond to that particular aspect of the show,' she says. 'I think that most people will appreciate it because it just says what most people, I think, would be thinking when they watch these events. Which is 'this is wrong, this is terrible.' We get a chance to address that, so you don't have to feel that you've watched something disturbing and nothing was acknowledged.' Bard veteran Jennifer Lines, who has been working with the company since 1996 and will be playing Beatrice in the upcoming production, says the adjustment made by Wright marks a shift in theatre that will hopefully cause a ripple effect leading to the tweaking of other productions where needed. 'I've been doing this for a long time now and I see the need for accessibility and engaging a modern sensibility, and having those broader interpretations,' says the actress. 'Making it relevant and inclusive, it is important, but it is a dance.' Lines assures the tweaks do not take anything away from the brilliance of the original, a brilliance which, as someone who has performed in the play multiple times as Margaret, Ursula and Beatrice, she says she can attest to. 'It is a play that keeps coming back to me. It's comedic, it's dramatic, it's romantic, it's got everything,' she adds. 'The characters are well fleshed out. There's intelligent banter. It's one of Shakespeare's loveliest plays in my mind, and it's such a thrill to be a part of.'
